Homing Instinct
by sushirapper
Summary: The D Clan has never been lacking for eccentricities and strange habits. This is just one of them. Rated T for language.
1. Trouble Comes A'Knocking

_**Summary : **Garp decides that Ace—newly dubbed super rookie—is in need of a Fist of Love._

 _ **Disclaimer : **Nope, One Piece ain't mine folks. I'd rather not have_ that _responsibility either, to be honest._

* * *

A wordless roar rocked the ship of the famous Marine hero Garp the Fist, and exactly none of his recruits were surprised. Their temperamental officer was permanently some form of _loud_ and, quite frankly, they were used to it. They could only hope it didn't mean another one of his hellish training sessions while they were smack dab in the middle of the sea.

Garp, for his part, was severely unhappy. He stormed into the navigation room, scattering the handful of marines in the hallway with the sheer force of his anger.

"Men! Make to change course, we're going somewhere else for a bit!"

He stomped over to the map on the wall and zeroed in on an island about a week from here—the Rizen Isles. He jabbed a meaty finger at the spot and snapped at his men about the new heading. While most scurried to obey, one brat with eerie orange eyes stood her ground and eyed Garp warily. "If you don't mind me asking, sir, why are we heading in the opposite direction from G5?"

Garp was very aware of Senny's orders to head directly for G5 so he could smack some respect into the heads of the unruly brats there.

He paused to study _this_ brat (second in command of the navigation squad, if he remembered correctly) and decided, _Good. I like brats who can think for themselves._

"Bwahahaha! I like you, kid. You'll make a fine marine; I will train you myself!"

He ignored how the little shit blanched at his declaration as he pondered how to explain. Then, brandishing the crumpled up newspaper in his fist, he yelled, "There's another unruly brat there that I need to beat some sense into first. G5's not going anywhere, and this particular shit needs a special Fist of Love!"

Five days later and they were coasting off the port of Rizen, coming up on the side of the _Royal Flush_. They were early because he'd pushed his men to the limit in sailing there, his gut telling him he'd miss his shitty brat if they were even a day late.

He knew the second his men realized what—or who—they were here for.

"Holy shit, the _Royal Flush_? We're going after the Spade Pirates?!"

"Fuck isn't that Fire Fist Ace's crew?"

"Ohhhh god the _super rookie_. We're all going to die."

Garp ignored them, because for all their whining, they still followed all his orders to a tee. Anyone on Garp's ship knew better than to disobey a superior's orders. He saw the moment the pirates realized who, exactly, was at their tail end. Garp imagined something like the conversation here was happening on the other end as well.

He smirked with satisfaction at the normal hurried pace to get away from the Marines. If they weren't panicking, that meant Ace didn't know he was here yet. Probably asleep. Or eating.

Fifty meters away from the other ship and Garp jumped. He launched himself across the distance to land on the other deck with a distinct crash that sent the ship rocking. With a pleased smile, he watched as the crew scrambled to block the route to where he assumed was either the galley or the sleeping area.

He begrudgingly admitted to himself that he didn't dislike their loyalty to their captain.

"Get out of my way," Garp growled. Grandson's crew or not, they were still pirates. "I'm here for Fire Fist Ace and no one else."

Amongst the pirate's outraged roars and threats and firm declarations that he would get to their captain over their dead bodies, Garp spotted the _Running Dog_ pulling alongside the pirate ship and gestured to his men to hold their fire. Then, with a fist pulled back, he slammed the nearest man into the rest of the crew, toppling them all into the wall. He proceeded to march belowdecks and hesitated outside the door of the galley.

With a shrug, he smashed the door clear off its hinges and watched as a smaller form startled into waking within the dust. Grinning maniacally, Garp blew on his fist carefully before flying into the room with a roar.

 _"FIST OF LOVE!"_

A yelp of alarm and Ace very nearly avoids his attack, but Garp knew his grandson well. Ace crashed through the tables and straight through the floor.

"WHAT THE FUCK YOU SHITTY GEEZER!"

Garp guffawed as Ace scrambled to his feet, glaring at him and rubbing the lump on his head. Garp hit him again for good measure, then began yelling at Ace about becoming a pirate. Ace, for his part, accepted the new Fist of Love with a grimace and held his ground, screaming back at him about how he was never going to be a marine in the first place.

Seeing the fierce protectiveness in Ace's eyes as he yelled about his crew and the sheer joy evident in his voice at his newfound freedom, Garp's chest swelled with pride for his boy even as his heart sank in it knowing his grandson had made his choice about the path he would walk—there'd be no turning him away from it now. No matter how awful the consequences might be.

And then, since he had absolutely no intention of expressing any of this (nor did he have any idea how he might go about doing that, but Ace didn't need to know that), Garp hit Ace upside the head once more.

"OW! Dammit, how the hell'd you even find me, you shitty old geezer?"

After a somewhat hysterical bout of chortling in response—and, of course, a couple more Fists of Love and reminders to "call me Grandpa!"—Garp finally got himself under enough control to wipe away the tears of laughter and reply:

"Instinct, boy. Instinct."

Three years later and that instinct was once again put to the test as Marine Headquarters shook with a roar of "LUUUUUUFFYYYYYYY!"

Sengoku calmly lifted his glass of water from the table to keep it from drenching his papers, and exchanged a glance of resignation with Tsuru, who had done the same with her tea. Seconds later and an irate Garp stomped into his office, snapping, "Senny! A certain brat is in need of a Fist of Love and I'm going to deliver so don't you dare stop me!"

Rubbing his temple to alleviate his headache, Sengoku merely waved Garp away and told him not to bring more than one admiral with him, if he could help it. _("No,_ Garp, you can't bring the new recruits either. You'll traumatise them, dammit!") Tsuru simply wondered out loud if perhaps this was a good test to determine promotions: efficiency and competency in dealing with the unpredictable nature of the Monkey Ds.

* * *

 _Eyyo all! So this is gonna be a bunch of ficlets for all the D folk and their particular "homing instincts" and it'll be marked as complete once I've covered all the existing D characters. I'll add new chapters if any more are introduced later on though, and there'll be a few bonus chapters for non-D characters that I just_ had _to write for._

 _Enjoy and please review to tell me what you think!_

 ** _-shira_**

 _PS. I can't remember where I read the headcanon that the Spade Pirates' ship is called Royal Flush and I LOVE it but I can't remember where ugh someone please tell me :(((( **edit:** ohhhhh found it! From Kitsune Foxfire's fic, "Fire Fist Ace? Ann?" which I **adore** so check it out and to Kitsune-san, if you ever see this, hope you don't mind I borrowed the name._


	2. Of Flowers and Gold

**_Summary:_** _Roger is going the wrong way and Rayleigh told him so, but Rayleigh was the one who got himself stranded in the middle of the sea once by accidentally cutting his sails into shreds, so Roger wasn't quite inclined to listen. Because Roger is most definitely going the right way. Or, the Roger Pirates are looking for treasure and Roger stumbles upon the greatest treasure of all. (Hint: it's freckles and hibiscus and a lovely smile to match fierce, fierce spirit.)_

 ** _Shira:_** _welp here we go. Thank you for everyone who favorited/followed/reviewed! I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Next chapter: Portgas D. Rouge_

* * *

"And I'm telling you, we're going the wrong way!"

Roger laughed in the face of his first mate. "No we're not, partner. Don't you trust me by now?"

Rayleigh threw his hands up in exasperation, knowing better than to argue with his captain. Roger chuckled as Rayleigh started muttering mutinously, and if Roger knew him at all, it would probably be multiple layers of insults and heckles any other captain would consider insubordination. Roger just hummed in response, ignoring him. He had never listened to him before anyway and he wasn't about to start now. He felt the grin slowly creeping back onto his face.

"I've got a good feeling about this."

They'd stumbled upon the place entirely by accident, a storm throwing them off course on their way to their fourth New World island (Roger blamed Rayleigh's luck for that one) and barely managed to steer the _Jackson_ to weigh anchor by a tiny lump of land barely large enough to be called an island before they all fell over from exhaustion. Gallo, a barrel-chested New World native, had informed the crew in hushed tones of the fabled Axiom Isle, an unfindable land no log pointed to that was rumoured to house a legendary treasure that put even gold and priceless jewels to shame. His gobsmacked expression in the morning told Roger all he needed to know about what they'd just found (Roger took full credit for this one).

 _But still,_ Roger mused as he jumped over another set of stairs, _the name certainly leaves something to be desired._

It wasn't two whole minutes from the moment they set foot on the island that Roger had realized the extent of the irony of its name. Because here, up was down, stones could splinter apart at any second while sand formed solid walls, trees could suffocate you, and gravity simply refused to cooperate. The Grand Line was well known for its habit of defying the law of physics but Axiom was on a whole other level.

"GAH!" Roger turned to find one of his cabin boys flailing about undignifiedly while his favorite brat, Shanks, laughed his head off at him. Roger's old straw hat was nearly falling off Shanks' head, he was laughing so hard. It seemed the large leaves of a tree floating by had smacked him right on the nose and refused to let go.

The captain grinned and Rayleigh hit him before he could join Shanks in snickering at Buggy's expense. Roger shot Rayleigh a mutinous look which was soundly ignored.

" _Wing-san_ ," Buggy whined. "Can't you just fly up and find a safer route to this damn treasure?"

Wing snorted and glared unamusedly at Roger's eager smile.

"Hilarious," she deadpanned. She still tugged the tree off of Buggy's face though.

"Aw, c'mon Bugs. You know Skypieans can't really fly with those wings."

"I know that, you fucking asshole! I'm not an idiot like you are!"

"'Course not." Shanks sounded agreeable enough but Buggy was definitely taking it the wrong way. No one paid any attention to thier bickering as Roger suddenly hung a sharp left.

"Oi captain!" His crew's yells of alarm were ignored in favor of the growing fire in front of him. Then, because he was curious, Roger stuck his hand into the fire.

"ROGER DAMMIT." Rayleigh quickly pulled him away from the fire while Roger observed his hand. It wasn't burnt. In fact, it hadn't felt hot at all. _Hmm I wonder if..._ He whipped off his coat and fed it to the flames.

He smiled like the lunatic he knew he was even as the rest yelled in alarm. "Men! Take off your clothes!"

To Roger's surprise, Wing was the first one to pull off her shirt and toss it at her captain. Roger blinked at her and she grinned back wolfishly before turning back to the rest, clad in only a breastband wrapped tight around her chest with the slave mark on her back on full display.

"Well?" She snapped. "You heard the captain, you rotten little horse shits! Your clothes!"

Rayleigh laughed before shrugging off his own shirt and cloak and tossing it to Roger. The others immediately followed suit, and Roger felt his pride grow that not a single man had even taken a second to gawk at the proof of Wing's past. He felt even prouder to think he had given her her name when she'd admitted to not remembering her own before he'd recruited her into his crew.

The Roger Pirates all watched in awe as their clothes shimmered with a red glow, the cloth having absorbed all the "fire" inside the seams. Roger laughed in delight while his men relaxed one by one.

"Well isn't this amazing, partner! I certainly hope the rest of the New World proves to be just as interesting!"

Rayleigh sniffed as he picked up his cloak to examine it.

"Anywhere is plenty interesting so long as you're there, captain," he said calmly. "Well, I suppose we can come back once our clothes have 'dried', eh Roger?"

"Yeah." Roger was already moving ahead. "I think we're getting close."

Ten minutes and multiple indestructible walls of clouds later, the pirates we're finally nearing the middle of the island. Surprisingly enough, the perfectly circular patch of land was made up of a completely normal forest. Trees towered over them while firmly rooted in the ground, birds weren't poisonous fanged monsters, and water and fire and wood and steel all had the same effect they had in every other part of the world.

Roger was smacking vines away from his face when a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Now what are you fine, fine gentlemen doing on a day like this on a forbidden island?"

Roger looked up. And up and up and up. Because at what must be the pinpoint middle of the island stood a large, proud oak, branches reaching up to touch the clouds in the sky. And there, on one of its branches stood a single woman.

Her white dress whipped in the wind as she looked down at Roger. His booming laugh echoed around them as Rayleigh replied for them, tone mild. "We're pirates, miss. No offense meant, but we don't exactly care about what is or isn't forbidden."

Her laugh echoed much like Roger's, wild and free and viciously happy, as she jumped to the ground nimbly, hair barely ruffled by the height. Roger grinned as she landed in front of him. "And I suppose _you're_ allowed to be here then, girlie?"

Her eyes flashed in something like anger and on a lesser woman, her expression might be called a sneer. As it was, she made it look simply like the amused smile of a queen at the expense of the idiotic scrambling of those not quite to her level. "My _name_ is Portgas D. Rouge. Not 'miss', not 'girlie'. _Rouge._ "

Roger sketched a mocking bow. She smirked and responded with a curtsy.

"Besides," she continued after studying the half naked Roger Pirates with thinly veiled laughter. "I'm here for a reason."

"Oh? And what reason might that be, _Rouge-san_?"

She turned around and laid a hand on the trunk of the massive tree before replying. "I heard there was a flower here."

"A flower?" Shanks had pushed his way to the front, curious to see this woman who faced his captain down without fear. "Do you mean the treasure?"

"No, I mean a flower," Rouge replied with a laugh. She stepped a little to the side to show them a single stem of a flower shimmering iridescently in the fading light. Then, with a single smooth movement, she plucked the flower already placed in her hair— _hibiscus_ , Roger thought—and tucked it swiftly into place between Shanks' ear and vibrant red hair.

Rouge never saw Shanks sputtering incoherently, blushing red as a beet. She had instantly turned her attention to the strange flower after flashing Shanks a dazzling smile, kneeling before it and cupping it in her hands almost reverently. She plucked it with gentle fingers and an even gentler smile before placing it where the hibiscus had been before, placing a hand on the trunk once more and murmuring softly to herself, a contented look on her face. She looked almost as though she was praying.

"So do you reckon that flower thing is the treasure, then? Looks like there's something more to it than just being a plant." Rayleigh's voice is low enough that only Roger can hear, but Roger's not paying attention.

He hums a bit as a distracted reply, eyes fixed on Rouge as she rose to her feet and turned just as the jeering and catcalls of how adorable Shanks looked rose to a deafening din. Shanks was screeching denials but his face was as red as his hair and the flower at this point, and Buggy was calling him out on it gleefully. Rouge slid closer to Shanks and put a hand on his shoulder, laughter in her eyes as she assured him that he did indeed look quite dashing with her flower.

Rayleigh watched his captain's bright eyes and Rouge's knowing smirk as they watched each other warily across the span of a heartbeat and a world changing chasm, and the first mate of the Roger Pirates turned to their men with a long-suffering sigh and a resigned shake of his head.

"Alright, you damned idiots, that's enough! Since we've figured out the way here, let's go get our clothes first and come back to scope for anything of value."

The crew cheered as they surged back the way they came. Rayleigh followed, glancing back only once to watch as Roger and Rouge stood frozen across from each other, still.

"Besides," he murmured softly to himself. "Look's like Roger's found his treasure after all."


	3. Lost, But Always Found

_**shira:** Okay so you guys know how I said this chapter would be Rouge? Ahahaha... well... I was working on it (I swear I was!) but I got distracted by my ASL wallpaper and this just... sort of happened? I wasn't planning on any of these being canon events but uhhh it was impossible to resist, to be honest. I_ might _still do a separate one for each of them, but I'm not sure because I am a Very Big Fan of ASL's "home" being each other, so yeah. I promise next one is Rouge though, I really do! In the meantime, here, enjoy this._

 ** _Summary:_** _Lucky [stupid] coincidences tend to happen around Luffy. Ace knows this better than anyone. So he really shouldn't have been surprised when his little brother decides that the best way to reunite after three long years of separation is to rocket him (and a Marine) through the walls of a restaurant._

* * *

Ace was bored. No two ways about it, he was so damn tired of wandering this godforsaken country with the sand and the sense of _wrongness_ in the people and the insufferable heat (which, in all honesty, didn't exactly affect him but damn it all if he wanted to complain about it, he would).

He'd been wandering around for a _week_ without leads and he was starting to flare up in frustration with each passing hour that no new information cropped up about that _traitor._ Not to mention Luffy wasn't even here yet.

With a long-suffering sigh, he slipped through the markets towards a restaurant near the end that he'd started frequenting since he got here, dodging grabby vendors and pickpockets with practiced ease. He waved to the old man at the counter as he settled in his usual seat.

"The usual I suppose?" The owner watched him with a mixture of distaste and awe that Ace had long since associated with anyone who'd seen him and his brothers eating before.

"Please," he replied with a grin.

Well, whichever way, Ace had a good feeling about today. As the food was set out in front of him, Ace dug in knowing that something was about to happen. And if his gut hadn't failed him—and it never has before—he was gonna need all the energy he could get.

"Old man, another serving please!"

* * *

Luffy was hungry. That was all. The lunch from the old man in the desert barely made a dent in his growling stomach. He'd gotten himself lost (again) and he just knew Nami was going to be pissed, but he was _hungry._

And besides, his nakama could take care of themselves and he'd probably find the ship one way or another and oh wow, _meat._

Wiping off his drool, he glanced around and spotted a restaurant at the very end of the street. He paused for a second to reach out and stretch himself (and Luffy was pretty sure he'd forgotten _something_ important but woaaah the meat smelled _incredible_ ) and he rocketed himself straight inside.

He didn't really pay attention to why he was going straight for that restaurant instead of the ones closer to him. He just knew there was gonna be something _awesome_ inside and it was almost definitely meat. Landing with a resounding thud, he bounced back up with a cheer and quickly settled himself on a seat by the counter. (Eh? Felt like he'd hit something warm, but this was just the counter? Oh well, probably nothing important.)

"Old man! Food please, I'm _starving_!"

The old dude looked just as shocked as everyone else, and Luffy's not _sure_ , but he hasn't done anything yet, has he?

Oh good, FOOD.

The rest of it could wait.

* * *

"Why that little fucker," he growled as he picked himself back up from the rubble of a destroyed wall.

Ace was pissed and he fully intended on making it known. He stalked through the path made by his slamming through buildings, growling obscenities under his breath and stopping only to apologize to a family whose meal he had disrupted. Granted, he hadn't done it by choice, but still.

He kept on and had just spotted the little shit head who was about to get his ass handed to him when that stupid grin and stupid scar and the ever-present straw hat registered, and he finally realized who the absolute dumbass was that had sent him flying through the restaurant.

"Lu!" Ace yelled ecstatically. He didn't even mind much that his little brother had totally missed his presence, too engrossed in his food to care about anything else. "Oi, Lu—"

 _Okay, someone needs to tell these damn people that cement does not fucking taste good!_ Ace thought viciously as he was shoved headfirst into the floor before he could catch Luffy's attention. He only barely managed to catch the tail end of Luffy and White Chase's conversation as he successfully extricated himself from the ground before Luffy was running off again. The last thing he saw was Luffy shoving all the food on the table in his mouth, thanking the nice man who'd fed him, and dashing off with White Chase hot in pursuit.

Ace grinned like an idiot. _Glad to see he hasn't forgotten all of his manners._

Ace grabbed his bag and went after them, completely forgetting his own manners—and, conveniently, to pay for his food as well—as he yelled for his little brother to wait up.

Unfortunately, Luffy could be fast when he wanted to be. And considering that he'd both just dined-and-dashed as well as had a very pissed Marine captain chasing after him, Ace supposed that Luffy did indeed want to be fast in this particular occassion.

But now Ace had lost them.

He wasn't too worried though. Now that he knew Luffy was here, he'd be damned if he let some third-rate Marine captain hurt his little brother while he was around.

Ace took a calming breath and came to a complete stop in the middle of the road. Two seconds later and he had his answer. He ran full tilt towards a commotion from a couple streets over. No doubt about it, that was definitely Lu. No one else caused such an uproar just by taking a stroll through the city. He made it just in time to keep White Chase off of Luffy, firing up his own Devil Fruit powers to block the smoke Logia's attack.

"Ace?" The disbelief in Luffy's voice was enough to make Ace start smiling like an idiot again and he forced himself to school his expression back into his trademark cocky grin.

"You never change, Luffy."

Seeing how much his little brother has grown in the past three years was something he'd been looking forward to for months, but this was neither the time nor the place for it. So Ace told them to run while he held the Marine's off and tried not to be too happy when Luffy immediately complied, unwavering trust in Ace still completely whole and unbroken even though they hadn't seen each other for so damn long.

Once the Straw Hats' yelling had finally faded away, Ace finally gave his complete attention to the Marines. His smile turned wicked as he decided to hurry this along; he had a lot of catching up to do.

* * *

Luffy was fully aware that he was lost. What he didn't understand was _how_ he'd gotten lost in the first place. Nami had yelled left, so he'd gone left, right? She couldn't possibly get mad at him for this. (She would, he knew she still would, but that didn't matter right now because there were more important things at hand.)

"Jeez, it's like you aren't even _trying_ to escape."

Like the voice that was calling out to him right now, the one he knew better than anyone else, deeper now but even the exasperation in his tone was still the same—always still the same. Luffy looked up and spotted the familiar silhouette standing over him and he made a happy noise of recognition.

"Yo."

"Ace!"

Luffy's big brother dropped down to where he sat on his barrel and grinned at him. "It's been awhile, Luffy."

Luffy beamed back. "Right back at you, Ace."

And for a second, they just looked at each other, smiling like the idiots they probably (definitely) were. And in a little bit, Luffy knew they'd be back with his crew and his friends would get to meet his big brother and Ace was laughing again and Luffy felt like he had never really left home at all.


End file.
